Sleeping bag dilemma – Norway. Summer

Currently having a sleeping bag dilemma that I would appreciate some thoughts on.

Me and my gf are on a 6 cycle tour of Norway this year, July and August. Some high passes, not going further north than Trondheim.

Currently we have sea to summit flame. Comfort 2 deg. 500g ish, very small packsize.

However, we are on a week of the Scottish islands at the moment as a kit test etc….i have been impressed with how warm they are and have only ever worn shorts to sleep.

I appreciate it’s personal sleep comfort and the weather in Norway can be changeable (at best!)

Options

A – save money, stick with it, might be a bit warm at times

B – suck up the expenditure, buy a sleeping bag with higher comfort temp. I think to match the pack size and weight of the current bags we are looking at circa £500 for 2

C – go for a quilt? I have never used one, definitely the lightest option.

I will be carrying thermals and down jacket anyway so could layer up if it’s a cold night.

6 weeks away means I want to be comfy. Difficult to get it right for a longer trip, what’s the compromise…..

Any thoughts, experience, kit recommendations would be great.

I’d get a couple of these, you then have a choice of single/double duvet and sleeping bag by using the zips.

https://www.trekitt.co.uk/sleep-shelter/sleeping-bags/rab-wilderness-quilt-maple__33373

I might get one myself.

Personally I would go with what you have. I would definitely advocate a silk liner to help keep the sleeping bag clean, also adds a bit extra in warmth. If it’s really hot, the liner alone is very useful

I sleep in thermals with liner to boost my 600g PhD bag, that’s been good enough to 2000m alp camps on long trips, and for me comfy down to sea level

I’ve had lighter bags, they haven’t been warm enough for me and knowing that you’re likely to be cold on a long trip is slightly frustrating to put it mildly. Imo super lightweight bags get you a very narrow useful window

Packing a silk liner is a great suggestion, don’t know why I hadn’t thought of that, this is the new, current, plan A!

The current silk liner I have came from go outdoors, no brand job. Pretty good. Previous one was a Rab, more expensive but didn’t last terribly well so despite being fractionally lighter I wouldn’t recommend them!

These days I’ve been packing my sleeping bag in an exped ultralight drybag, it’s lighter than a regular stuffsac plus an additional waterproof layer.

I’d rather be roasting than freezing.

If I was roasting I might take my down jacket off, possibly even my thermal camping pyjamas.

I’d take the hot bag and sleep in luxury

I’ve slept in just my silk sleeping bag liner, but never in the uk

My personal opinion, with the proviso I live in Norway,  and have done plenty is take what you have and a silk liner.  Forget the quilt stuff –

I’d be very aware that July is the rainy season in Norway, and given the fantastic weather now, July will inevitably be very wet.  Prepared for that, and consider a backup route inland.

Where are you starting from?

I’m not convinced by quilts. A ball ache to get in and out of, unless.you don’t move about you can get a load of draughts, and also no hood to keep all the warmth in the bag.

I’d go with what you have – sea to summit.bags are good. And as per the post above better to be a bit too warm than a bit too cold, especially on a longer trip.

Edit to add: I had my first go in a sea to summit Spark Sp1 I bought over the winter.. this was a few weeks back on a bivvy.. super light and packable – but also super warm for what it is. It’s very impressive.

I’ve had a few summer trips to Norway. While I’ve only had cold-cold nights in the high mountains, when I’ve taken a light bag (similar profile to yours) I’ve had to supplement it with a liner, thermals and a down jacket. Probably worth mentioning that a lot of folk overstate the effectiveness of a silk liner IMO – they do work but they won’t tun a 2 season bag into a 3 season bag.

Someone mentioned using a lightweight dry bag – my experience of these was that they’re not super durable. Mine would last a season of moderate use before getting leaky. Personally, for a Norwegian July I’d take the weight hit of a normal non-ultralight dry bag to make sure my feathers kept dry.

Great stuff, thanks everyone, will run what we have with a silk liner for extra warmth / if it’s really warm on its own!

@wbo the route is almost entirely inland, trying to do a lot of the big gravel routes. I do hope you are wrong about the rain ……!

Inland is better than the Coast, but I hope you’re lucky.

Take what you have. I did a trip with a round the world ticket, back in the day. My sleeping bag was used from desert to himalayan base camp. It had a sub zero comfort rating. On warmer nights I’d just undo the zip and use it as a quilt. My previous bag which had no zip i just wiggled out of it

Oh and it can cold in Norway in summer. I think we had a day when it didn’t get above 8 celcius

Have a great trip. Do post some pictures

Ha ha – I had a week planned to be at Stetind where it snowed 15cms .. in late June.

More recently a week in Jotunheimen in July with 1 1/2 decent days in a week, and not much time above 10C

It also depends, a little, on how warm you – and your gf – as individuals sleep, it can vary quite a lot from the ‘average’ assumed by the lab tests. The warmer you tend to sleep, the lighter the bag you can get away with. Wearing a beanie in your bag helps too, particularly if you’re someone who doesn’t tend to stay reliably inside the hood of your bag.

That aside, I’d always rather be slightly warm than shivering, which isn’t much fun, even it’s not at a dangerous level. A decent mat will help too. Also, the Sea to Summit PillowLock system which sticks one of their pillows to the sleeping mat is brilliant, if you happen to have one of their mats or are thinking of upgrading.

You can buy the mat bit direct from Sea to Summit in the EU I think, but it’s hard to find them anywhere else aftermarket:

Pillow Lock System

Echoing what others have said, just keep what you have, it’ll be fine. You can always unzip if too warm and maybe zip the bags together if you get colder than planned temps?

But spend some of what you save on a couple of mosquito head nets, there’s millions of the buggers in the forests right now! 🦟🦟🦟

From what I’ve heard, quilts offer flexibility and weight savings, but personal comfort is key. Maybe consider renting a quilt for a test run? Or chat with fellow campers for firsthand advice.

I did an overnighter in the Cheviots earlier this week, took my 2-season Alpkit sleeping bag.

Glad I’d taken a down jacket with me…

Garmin reckoned it was down to 2c.

I’m in the Highlands next week, taking my 3-season Rab sleeping bag instead.

Quilts offer draughtiness and a bad, cold nights sleep in the real world outside perfect weather .

3C at night and torrential rain in Jotunheimen till Thursday so summer is definitely here

I’ve used a quilt and also a sleeping bag on different trips.

Hardanger plateau (sorry if I’ve spelt it incorrectly), in early August, snow in pockets and the bag rating you described was perfect. I was solo in a tent.

I had a great time

Not much to add to your bag advice, but we have been in Oslo/Nesbyen this week and it has been everything from 25 degrees and sunny to 8 and raining with low single digits over night, fresh snow on the far high tops. So I would say pack for everything 😜

From what I’ve heard, quilts offer flexibility and weight savings,

Hmmm. I’d challenge both of those points TBH. A sleeping bag can be used as a s’bag or a duvet unzipped. A duvet can just be used as a duvet or some inferior swiss roll type pseudo sleeping bag that won’t work as well.

And there’s no way a duvet is lighter than a s’bag of the same warmth

Thanks for all the advice.

Yes mosquito nets are on the list!

Going to run what we have, probably a silk too liner as it’s the lightest most cost effective way of having something for hot and cold.

I was in a similar position, just had a great big winter bag and a little summer bag. Bought a down quilt as I figured it would turn the 1 season to 3 season ish with lightest weight – All the down on top where it’s actually useful, drafts still cut out by the bag. And leaves you the option of using one or the other or both, on this trip and future.  Nice system, would recommend!

You can hire sleeping bags which we have done in the past. We wanted very light ones for a warm weather tour.

You could hire to suit your needs.

In UK and winter camping , we use a quilt to boost our sleeping bags by placing it over the top ,it comes with us everywhere.

It’s works really well and we keep saying what a great purchase it was .

It was used on and off during the hot weather tour as well and that’s  when I bought it , as I  knew the Mrs gets cold and was apprehensive of the lighter bags ( we had  hired). and often  just used the quilt and no bag at all on hot nights  or as the sun came up and roasted the tent!

I tend to sleep warmer than the Mrs so also use it in warm weather with just a silk liner in uk too.

A down double quilt is quite pricy though!

Packs reasonabley small and  is pretty lightweight.